Sevens

National pride at stake in HK says Baber

April 2, 2019 12:06 pm

The Fiji Airways men’s 7s side will be held accountable in its performance in Hong Kong this weekend says head coach Gareth Baber.

Baber says they’ve been disappointing in a few tournaments this season and they’re hoping to avoid this in Hong Kong which is the pinnacle of the 7s series.

He says they know how important the Hong Kong tournament is for the Fijian fans and they are doing the hard yards, ensuring they get all the basics right to counter their tough opponents in their pool of death.

“The reality of what we do here is to understand when they go out there and represent Fiji, they bid for Fiji, and play for the local villages in Fiji and they got to prepare themselves and get accountable for their performance equally wherever they are in the world.”

Fiji has lifted the Hong Kong title 18 times more than any other team in the world 7s series.

Fiji is pooled with arch-rivals New Zealand, Australia and Kenya.

Fiji meets Kenya at 11.37pm on Friday in its opening pool match, they will then play Australia at 5.13pm Saturday before taking on New Zealand at 8.55pm.

The cup quarterfinals start at 2.58pm on Sunday, cup semifinal final begins at 7.41pm and the cup final kicks off at 11pm on Sunday.